The plethora of mobile computing devices have opened up user's requirements and abilities to access various digital objects, e.g., data, images, files, directories, etc., at any location with any of one or more devices available to them. In one example, a person may not know which digital object(s) they will need to access while operating in a mobile manner (e.g., travelling). Hence the person carries with them their “main” computer, e.g., their laptop, as it contains all of their digital objects, even though while they are on the road they prefer to use a different device, e.g., their tablet computer. Hence, the person will have to carry with them at least two devices, the laptop containing their digital objects, and their preferred device, a tablet computer. Carrying multiple devices can be inconvenient, when they would rather carry a single device. A recent technological development to facilitate transfer and access of digital objects from one or more remote locations is for the person to store their files on a third party computer(s), e.g., cloud computing. Third party computer(s) can be accessed from virtually any location via a network connection, thereby enabling the person to upload and download digital objects from other computers, e.g., third party computer(s) as desired, with whatever device they wish to use, wherever they are. Accordingly, the person can now travel with just their tablet computer, leave the laptop at home, while still being able to access any file(s) they may need which is/are stored on the third party computer, e.g., a cloud server.
However, a person may be reluctant to have their digital objects stored on a third party computer(s). For example, they may not want to incur the cost of employing a third party service(s). They may also consider their data to be confidential and are hesitant to have such confidential information stored on a third party computer(s) where the potential for access of the information by a third party exists. Further, the person may be hesitant to have their information stored on a third party computer(s), especially when considering such factors as “what happens to my digital objects if the service provider ceases to provide service?”, or “can my data, or access thereof, be held to ransom? What is to stop the service provider from increasing their rates to access my digital objects?” Apart from using a third party computer(s) such as a cloud server, there are few options available for users to securely access files stored on one device from a remotely located device.
The above-described deficiencies of conventional distributed computing systems are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of conventional systems and techniques, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with conventional systems and techniques, and corresponding benefits of the various non-limiting embodiments described herein may become further apparent upon review of the following description.